TNG Mixtape: Be The Change You Wish To See Edition...

You guys? Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Seriously. Barack Obama is the motherfucking President of the United Motherfucking States of America!!! Now, I know we've all done this a few times in the last few months, but just take a minute and let that sink in. Isn't it amazing? I think my feelings standing down there on the Mall in the freezing cold, watching the first African-American put his hand on a Bible and swear to defend our Constitution as President, were best summed up, surprisingly enough, by Beyonce in an interview with ABC News: "I mean I'm actually right now fighting back tears, because it's just so emotional and I'm just so proud of my country... and I just feel so inspired and so proud... He makes me want to be smarter. He makes me want to be more involved..." I'm sure you can find this interview online somewhere and if you do, you'll probably start to cry like everyone else I was with on Tuesday night, because... exactly. Exactly! Barack Obama is not Jesus. He's not going to solve every problem for everyone, but at least we've finally chosen a leader who's intelligent and engaged. The last eight years have been so crushing and dark, so twisted and shameful, but now there's a light. There's finally a chance that things can get better for decent folks, not only here at home, but around the world. There's finally no excuse for us all to not, as Gandhi said, be the change we wish to see in the world.

Anyway, I'm clearly still a little crunk of the hope juice, so I'll stop. But I did take the liberty of putting together a little playlist of hopeful/inspirational songs in honor of our new POTUS. All of us TNGs have chosen a song or two that inspires us to run that extra mile, pound that extra shot, etc. Please enjoy it at your leisure and, of course, you'll find the playlist along with our thoughts about each song after the jump. If I may, however, I'd like to leave you with this. To liberally paraphrase Akron/Family, a band I've been listening to a lot lately, without an open heart and an open mind, you are already dead. So don't be afraid to open up.

Love is simple...


Hey, hey! Once again, we seem to be having a few technical difficulties embedding our player. If anyone knows how to embed something from playlist.com onto a blogger site and doesn't mind explaining it to a dunderhead like me a few times, or if you know of a mixtape-making site that doesn't totally suck, please email me! Argh! In the meantimes, to hear the playlist, go ahead and click on this pic of our new prez bodysurfing like a bad-ass mofo:


Click Me To Listen!


The Playlist:

1. Whenever I need a little inspiration, I put on The Go! Team. Both their albums are filled with fast-paced, driving music that helps me motor through just about anything. My favorite track from either album has to be "Keys To The City," which combines soaring horn lines, jangly guitar and rock-and-roll drums with spoken motivational lyrics that, it turns out, just might be a traditional double-dutch chant: "We are the hard-core jumpers and we never fail. We jump on through the snow, sleet, rain and hail. We can jump when we're tired, we can jump when we're blue. We jump on when we can think of other things to do." I'm listening to it now, on repeat. It gets me every time, without fail. - Michael

2. In honor of our soon-to-be-FORMER president, "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson. Long before Amelie taught me that Kells is totally gay, I have fucking loved this song. I'm counting it as inspiration to get over that certain man or woman who has done wrong. And hope that you'll someday be a huge star, and can bash that ex in #1 singles. - Corey

3. Back before the series finale of The Sopranos made it fashionable again, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" inspired me and assorted friends... to do karaoke, at night, indoors, with sunglasses on. It seemed to inspire everyone else in the bar as well. Oh, and I guess the themes of keeping faith and not giving up are fairly uplifting as well. - Jolly

4. "This To Shall Pass" by Rodney Crowell. Album: Fate's Right Hand.

I'll let the song speak for itself:

When the winds of change hit hard and knock you off your guard
And you find out there's a serpent in the grass
Though forked tongues might speak, if truth is what you seek
This too will pass

When your all tied up in knots and your friends are taking shots
And the sun comes up and kicks you in the ass
When your stumbling down the aisle and you feel like you're on trial
This too will pass

Sometimes you've gotta go down the middle of the road
Where compromise puts speed bumps in your path
If you know what you won't, let no one say you don't
This too will pass

Sometimes you gotta crawl through the middle of it all
But don't compromise your heart for something crass
When everything you do just feels like nothing new
This too will pass

When your all locked up in pain be careful who you blame
This too will pass

- Ben

5. "God's Country" by Ani Difranco. It's your standard Little Folksinger song: twangy and airy, yet beefy, melodies meet political-feminist lyrics sung by a clipped, confident voice. No matter my mood I can find that bit of encouragement to push me further, keep me levitated, or pull me out; and in light of being high on Tuesday's Chope [Change+Hope], "move over Mr. Holiness and let the little people through." That's my three cents worth of inspiration. - Maggie

6. "Walls" by Tom Petty. For a generally positive person, I can be really hard to console if I've had a bad time with something. Usually only my sister is able to truly calm me down after a bad day. If she's not around I listen to this song. Whatever I'm feeling always gets put in perspective. Some days are diamonds. Some days are rocks. Friends and kindness are important. It basically turns me into a hallmark card for four minutes and I love it. I've actually thought to myself that I want this played at my funeral, but that might be more morbid than hopeful. - Zack

7. Geez, the song I like is even on Playlist, and in a version I've never heard before, with a subpar extra verse and the background vocals pushed up in the mix. Not as good as the original, but hey, "Heaven in My Hands" by Level 42 is "Heaven in My Hands" by Level 42. My interest in Level 42 is by now well-documented on this blog, between my Hidden History column about their gay guitarist, Alan Murphy, and my WWLT about their greatest hits, and this is '80s inspirational music at its cheesiest (well, short of Mr. Mister's "Kyrie"). But if I need a boost, this song always does it, so it has to be my contribution to any "inspirational song" playlist. - Philip

8-10. As for me, my choices are threefold and pretty simple. First, I chose "Juicy" by Notorious B.I.G., then I went with Talib Kweli's "Get By," and, finally, "Don't Be Afraid, You're Already Dead" by Akron/Family, which I misquoted before the jump. I think all three songs speak to the same things: success only comes through hard work and staying true to yourself, open your heart and your mind and good things will happen, and love is the most important thing in the world. Whenever things feel dire, those three songs never fail to remind me of the things that actually matter. - Rocky

Good luck, President Obama! And to all of you as well!